CALGARY—The tightest federal race in Calgary in nearly four decades gave Conservative Joan Crockatt the victory over her progressive rivals who split the vote in what was once considered a nearly impenetrable Tory stronghold.

The race in Calgary Centre, which has been held by the Conservative party for the past four decades, was the most watched among three federal byelections held Monday.

In the Ontario riding of Durham, once held by International Affairs Minister Bev Oda who retired after her pricey expense accounts were made public, the Conservatives held on to their seat handily.

The Victoria byelection results, widely seen as a race between the Liberals and the NDP, turned into a race between the Green Party and the NDP.

Green candidate Donald Galloway and New Democrat candidate Murray Rankin switched leads throughout the evening with no definitive results by press time from the West Coast.

Crockatt had run a tight campaign, eschewing media interviews for what her staff said was door-knocking and talking to residents face-to-face.

The normally talkative Conservative commentator declined most media interviews throughout the race, which has turned out to be the story of the rise of the progressive voice in the riding.

Crockatt, a former editor with the Calgary Herald, led in opinion polls but her opponents made much of the fact that many Progressive Conservatives leaned away from her and polls showed that the number of non-conservative voters outflanked her.

The Liberal candidate, Harvey Locke, had the support of a group that called itself PCs for Harvey Locke.

The Green Party also touted that it was drawing in voters who had worked on previous Progressive Conservative campaigns.

In Durham riding, Conservative Erin O’Toole handily beat runner-up Larry O’Connor, the former Brock township mayor, who was running for the New Democrats.

In British Columbia, New Democrat MP Denise Savoie, who won the Victoria riding in the last election with more than 50 per cent of the vote, resigned for health reasons earlier this year.

Paul Summerville, a former investment banker with Lehman Brothers and former chief economist with the Royal Bank was running for the Liberals and prominent lawyer Murray Rankin, who spearheaded the provincial NDP’s legal team looking into the Northern Gateway Project, was running for the federal NDP.

The riding is progressive enough that the Conservative candidate Dale Gann, a businessman in the technology sector, ran ads with Victoria supporters explaining why they were a “little bit conservative.”

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.